And as further proof of my philosophy, today I was having–oh, not a bad day, per se, but one fraught with frustrations. I had fought, unsuccessfully, with the Hose Hideaway that is supposed to make hose use a breeze, and instead turns it into a torment from the third circle of hell. I had declaimed to James that this device was a festering pile of shit and I wanted it disconnected, out of my sight, and, if possible, blown up.

I have PMS. This, I believe, is self-explanatory.

And then, checking up on an Amazon order that I was eagerly awaiting, I discovered it had gone to my old address instead of this one, been undeliverable, and was headed back to Amazon, whose policies, as far as I could determine from reading various fine print, did not involve giving me a refund on what was, after all, my own stupidity.

I figured it was a long shot, but I called their customer service and said “Look, this is totally my fault for not updating the right thing, I’m an idiot, I’m willing to pay to have it re-shipped, is there anything we can do?”

And the very nice man on the other end fiddled with keys for a bit and said that yes, it was headed back, and since I’d called and explained, he’d list it as a return and arrange to have a full refund (including shipping!) credited to me as soon as it arrived. I could re-order the book at my leisure.

And he didn’t have to do that. So despite the PMS and the Hose Hideaway, a small act of kindness from some gentleman at a call center that I kinda suspect was in India made my day a better one. And while in the grand scheme of things, it’s not much, the fact that a guy half a world away could improve my day is really kinda cool.

Now I can lurk by the mailbox, waiting for my copy of “Entropia,” which Diane Stein showed me at Anthrocon, and which I have been wanting to order for quite awhile.

I promise, the next post will be snide. Too much optimism, and even I start to disgust me.

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